The coverage of the Oxford and Rochdale sex abuse rings has raised uncomfortable questions around culture, gender and power within the British-Pakistani community which, thus far, the mainstream press has proved rather squeamish in confronting (Social services failed me, says abuse ring girl, 15 May). Are men of Pakistani origin predisposed to abuse girls? No. Do elements of Pakistani culture help explain why a group of men engaged in a joint venture of abusing dozens of poor, young girls? Perhaps. For a community grappling with forced marriage and so-called honour killings, the cultural backdrop and norms of female disempowerment to these crimes are all too relevant. 

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